WEST HAM will probably win promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, and quite possibly as champions.

But after sitting down to watch Sam Allardyce’s men at Birmingham on Boxing Day, it’s not an experience I’d wish to repeat in a hurry.

It’s a myth that you have to kick and scrap your way out of English football’s second tier – as proved in recent years by Tony Mowbray’s West Brom, Ian Holloway’s Blackpool, Owen Coyle’s Burnley and Jean Tigana’s Fulham, to name but a few.

There’s been too much romanticising about the ‘West Ham way’ but Monday night at St Andrews was taking it to the other extreme.